Art Riga Fair 2015

ART RIGA FAIR took place for the second time in November 2015, and foreign galleries were beginning to flock to the young Baltic fair. Roughly twenty exhibitors from nine countries, Germany, Italy, Russia, Latvia, Georgia, Israel, Indonesia, the USA and Switzerland, filled the Latvian Railway History Museum's hall for a week of painting, photography, sculpture, multimedia and rare books, opened by an address from the President of Latvia, Raimonds Vējonis.

Participant list

David Datuna (USA), Ira Kitzki Gallery (Frankfurt); Frida Fine Arts Gallery (Berlin): Tatjana Fon Vardenburgs, Jans Saudeks, Francisko Infante, Genia Chef; Giordano Morganti (Italy), Bora Art (Bologna, Italy), Daniele Brandani, artists represented at ART RIGA FAIR 2015 by the Bora Art gallery: Pablo Picasso, Giorgio de Chirico, Ilze Jaunberga, Carlo Vighi, Mona Lisa Tina, Cirillo, Nicola Bertellotti. Karavan gallery (France): Irina Alaverdova, Karim Borjas, Jacques Crenn, Bruno Fournier, Belka Lassaire, Didier Masset, Pedro Morales, Alex Perret, Shalvak, Annete Turrillo, Marina Chernikova. Gallery Fine Art: Dmitrijs Šorins. Gallery KultProject: Mihail Molochnikov. Everything Is Art Gallery (Moscow): Lidia Vitkovskaya, Denis Mikhailov, Dima Goryachkin. Georg Baratašvili (Georgia). Reuven Shezen (Israel). Bali Art (Indonesia). Olivier De Rycke (France). Modern Masters Gallery (Switzerland). "Van Golik" Gallery (Poland): Jan Golik. Happy Art Museum: Dags Vidulejs, Normunds Brasliņš, Augusts Zariņš, Kristaps Zariņš, Aleksejs Naumovs, Sergejs Djomins, Artūrs Bērziņš, Juris Dimiters, Gustavs Filipsons, Nikolajs Krivošeins, Zigmunds Bielis, Aleksandrs Makarenko. Pinakotēka, Portretu galerija, Muza, Neputns, Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, Birkenfelds Gallery, Oforta Ģilde: Gunārs Krollis, Nele Zirnīte, Alex Ets, Inese Troska. EUROCLUB: Asja Kuzņecova-Ruf, Ivan Koršunov. Agijas Sūnas galerija, Bastejs Gallery, Antonia gallery, Burtveidols gallery, Normunds Brasliņš. Galerija Siguldas Tornis: Līga Ādamsone, Dainis Gudovskis, Ingūna Irbe Krolle, Kārlis Siliņš, Vitolds Kucins. Yegor Buimister. Art.V.International. Galerija Tifāna: Ilze Kuišele, Daina Dagnija, Klav Loris, Daiga Krūze, Linda Kozule.

Simon Hewitt returns, and a panel on enigma

ART RIGA FAIR 2015's discussion programme offered the chance to hear a lecture by the art critic Simon Hewitt, "Investigation in Originals", on determining the authenticity of artworks, and "ART & Enigma", a panel with the architecture theorist Alexander Rappaport and the philosopher Alexey Romanov. Both Hewitt and Rappaport had taken part in the first edition in 2014, and became fixtures of the fair's early years.

A week under the roof of an engine shed

As in 2014, the week kept a familiar shape: a VIP preview evening on Monday 23 November opened the fair with an address by the President of Latvia, ahead of a full week of gallery presentations and artist talks, and a nightly short film programme staged, unusually, inside a narrow gauge railway carriage parked among the museum's rolling stock. A closing panel discussion on art and society brought the week to an end.

David Datuna, "The Latvian Flag"

During ART RIGA FAIR 2015 the artist David Datuna (1974–2022), who created an original work, "Latvijas karogs" (The Latvian Flag), specially for the fair, together with the fair's organizers presented it to President Raimonds Vējonis. The work is currently on deposit with the National Library of Latvia and is on display in the library's premises at Mūkusalas iela 3, Riga.